Synopsis: Led by the Dark Knight and bankrolled by his civilian alter ego Bruce Wayne, Batman Incorporated has agents in every corner of the globe, fighting injustice no matter the geography. Now the war has come home to Gotham City–and the new Robin is caught in the crossfire.

Raised to rule the world by his mother Talia, the daughter of the villainous Ra’s al Ghul, young Damian Wayne rejected his tyrannical training and now battles evil alongside his father, the Batman. But her ever-growing cult, the global criminal conspiracy called LEVIATHAN, is on the verge of extinguishing the light of justice everywhere. And once she’s taken away everything the Batman cares about, she’ll take away his son too. Even if it means turning him into a monster.

Even if it means killing him.

And the price on the Boy Wonder’s head is nothing compared to what Batman will do to save his son.

I’m probably in the minority when it comes to this story line. I didn’t care for the art at all– it is very sketchy with harsh lines, the colors are washed out/water color tone, and the over all toning of the panels was very dark, at times making it really hard to see what was going on. At times it made distinguishing characters visually very difficult to do. The main story arc drops the reader into an all ready in motion story, so at times I felt a little lost, and I spent some time on wiki a) spoiling myself b) trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

That aside, there were some things that I did like about this volume, and it’s enough to get me to pick up the second one. Though I will be picking it up through the library and not collecting it, because I don’t care that much. I really loved the redemption of Jason Todd without the drama and redemption arc ‘on screen’. It’s no secret that I’m a Jason fan–but I really like how Batman Inc handled his coming back to the bat-family without dragging the reader through the mud and beating a dead horse. I did also like the glimmer of humor that was in the story as well. The Bat-cow/Bat-steak panel made me laugh, and it’s probably one of the more iconic scenes in the first volume. Damian really shines in this story but on the other hand Bruce is really off (again, tying into the beginning arc that this story picks up on.)

Overall: An interesting Batman story arc, but not something that I’ll actively read.

Synopsis: Virgil Hawkins may be a small-town kid, but his skills are Big Time. For he is none other than the smooth-talking, energy-manipulating teenaged superhero Static!

New Yorkers have taken note. So has a consortium of the city’s biggest underground bosses. When first the Slate Biker Gang and then the Piranha and the Pale Man (looking suspiciously like a certain psychotic clown….) lead an army of pharma-mutated thugs against him, Static and his family are in for a Big City welcome. Still, Virgil can’t decide what’s more shocking: these new enemies, or just how powerful he’s turning out to be.

I really wanted to like this. There’s some really great positives with this series. African American lead character, with a good strong family backing him. Breaks social stereotypes for the most part and has the hints of an interracial romance–something that’s so severely lacking in comic books, and for the most part main stream media.

I had a few problems with this volume however. The story seemed patched together and really disjointed. I felt like I was dropped into maybe the fourth or fifth volume of this series–there was a lot of background information that was implied and never fully explained. I felt lost through a lot of it, and ended up turning to wiki after I finished it. This is the trade paperback, so it compiles all of the paper volumes together in one easier to read book, but I still felt really lost. The dialogue was off as well and some of the exposition just didn’t jive well with me. I’m not sure what’s missing, but I feel like it’s not complete. This paperback includes all of the issues of the Static Shock series that was released with the New 52 relaunch. The book ends on a short note, but if you enjoy the Static Shock character he meets up with the Teen Titans further down the line.

Overall Diverse cast, strong leaning toward an interesting story line, but lack of detail and background information makes this confusing. If you remember the short lived Static Shock cartoon a few years ago, the characterization is on point with that. I wouldn’t read him on his own again, there’s something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on.

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